Five Norfolk schools to miss state benchmarks

NORFOLK

Lake Taylor Middle School is one year away from having its state accreditation denied, according to preliminary data. It is one of five schools in the city expected to fall short of state benchmarks this year, making Norfolk the only division in South Hampton Roads with schools that won't be fully accredited.

Superintendent Stephen C. Jones said Wednesday that he knew two schools - Lake Taylor Middle and Lindenwood Elementary - hadn't made enough progress to achieve the state goals this year.

The others - Lafayette-Winona Middle, Northside Middle and Ruffner Academy - missed for minor reasons, he said.

"We will take responsibility for Lindenwood. We still have a lot of work there to do," he said. "We'll certainly take responsibility for Lake Taylor because we know that that was a work in progress.

"But those other middle schools... they came awfully close. They did everything we asked them to do."

The state determines accreditation based on students' proficiency on the English, math, science and history SOL tests. A school receives a warning if a pass rate falls below the minimum in any subject in one year of Standards of Learning testing. A school also may meet state requirements if the three-year average meets the mark.

Early numbers in Chesapeake, Portsmouth, Suffolk and Virginia Beach show all of their schools meeting state benchmarks. The Virginia Department of Education will release official results next month.

Schools that are warned for more than three years in a row can be denied accreditation or assigned a "conditionally accredited" rating.

Officials must commit to addressing problems through measures such as restructuring the instructional program, school leadership, staff or student population.

Lake Taylor Middle is expected to enter its third year with a conditionally accredited rating - the most allowed by the state. If the school fails next year, the division could close it, merge it with a higher-performing school or enter into a memorandum of understanding with the Virginia Board of Education on an improvement plan.

Lake Taylor missed the math benchmark by about 5 percentage points, officials said.

The school is still feeling the effects of poor hiring and poor retention of quality teachers four years ago, Jones said. Newer, promising teachers haven't had the opportunity to gain enough experience, said Cathy Lassiter, executive director for middle schools.

The superintendent personally invited four of the district's top math teachers, including last year's teacher of the year, to switch to Lake Taylor on little notice.

"With math, we're throwing everything that we've got at Lake Taylor Middle School because we know this is it for them," Jones said.

Lafayette-Winona and North-side middle schools also are likely to receive ratings of "conditionally accredited" after missing goals for more than three consecutive years.

Both schools failed to meet standards in history. It was the first year that Norfolk sixth-, seventh- and eighth-graders each took a history test, and administrators attributed the performance problems to the novelty of the exams. The state required Virginia school divisions to phase in the tests between 2004 and 2009.

"We could have taken a tactical step to do something differently, but we didn't," Jones said.

Ruffner Academy is expected to be accredited with warning in math after falling back a few percentage points.

Lindenwood Elementary posted double-digit increases in more than one subject but also is likely to be warned.

The school underwent drastic changes last year. Staff members were required to reapply for their jobs, and a new principal was assigned.

"I think for some reason we took our eye off the prize, and we allowed that school to be lulled, in some cases, into benign neglect," Jones said.

Amy Jeter, (757) 446-2730, amy.jeter@pilotonline.com